Queer · and · Loathing · in · America

Owner of a Lonely Heart

I slept late this morning, terribly exhausted, and quite frankly could easily go back to bed and sleep more. As Constant Reader knows, I'd been ill Thursday and Friday; I woke up feeling much better yesterday--which was a good things, as we had tickets for the LSU home opener last night in Tiger Stadium. It was raining yesterday when we left for Baton Rouge, and it was raining when we got there.

The game was delayed for lightning; shades of last year! But the storm passed and the game started an hour late.

I often write about what it feels like to be in Tiger Stadium; those chills you get every time the band marches onto the field and plays the Pregame. It's pretty amazing, and in all the seven years (!) we've been going to games, it never changes. I love being in Tiger Stadium. I love everything about the games there, the crowds, the marching band, the students, everything. It's. Fucking. Awesome.

It's hard to believe that it's been six years since we went to our first game there, the Ole Miss game back in 2010. I don't even think I can count or name all the games we've been to now. But that feeling of awe, that feeling of 'it's so cool to be here', is the same at every game.

We weren't sure what to expect from the game itself; the disappointing loss to Wisconsin in the opening game of what was supposed to be a possible championship season left us all unsure. It had been such a tough summer for Baton Rouge with the shootings and the flooding and all. We always park in a lot off Alaska Street at Miss Fay's and walk into the stadium from there; I wasn't sure what to expect. Some of the flood coverage had shown Alaska Street being underwater and the houses along it flooded; I knew Miss Fay's street was high. Sure enough, she was there, we paid to park, and she told us she'd made it through fine. Her son and daughter's homes, though--they lost everything. And everything along Alaska Street had, as I thought, flooded.

There was a lot of this along Alaska Street, and it looked all too familiar.

The game itself? The first quarter was awful. The defense played terribly, and the offense was completely non-existent. Our quarterback, Brandon Harris, has long been a disappointment, and the one undeniable weakness. At one point in the first quarter I said to Paul, "how bad are the other quarterbacks?" The stadium was flat, and the offense's ineptitude actually drew boos from the crowd after the second consecutive three-and-out.

But on the next drive, Harris had been pulled and Danny Etling, a transfer from Purdue, was put in. The difference was palpable. Everyone cheered the new quarterback; the offense suddenly clicked, and before you knew it LSU was ahead, 6-3.

LSU went on to win, 34-13, and the game was never really in doubt after Etling went in. The offense sputtered again in the second half, but by then it no longer mattered. What does this mean for LSU? Well, we the faithful have had our hope renewed. I, for one, no longer dread every upcoming game.